Life Is Beautiful
by Nuclotei
Summary: Snow fell on Gotham City, silencing everything, everything but her mind. It was impossible to cope with what happened, so she ignored it, pushed it away, who the hell would care? Carelessness had her slipping, making a huge mistake, falling; there was no one to catch her now. But then there was a shadow, a hand, not one to catch but one to pull her back up from the darkness.


A/N: Hello there! I have recently discovered I am a bit of a Nightwing/Catwoman fan, and had this fic idea swimming in my head for a while so I finally decided to start writing it. Some important information…this doesn't really follow any canon to the comics other than you know the background of the characters and that Grayson/Bruce had a rough relationship while Grayson took on the Nightwing persona. Catwoman's suit is the one from the Hush story arch. I really like the blue goggles! Yes, Batman is deceased in this fic, that's the only way I could ever imagine her being with Dick, and since there are so few fanfics without the two together I'm going to post this one! The theme song for this fic is "Life Is Beautiful" by SIXX:AM.

Disclaimer: I do not own the character here, but I am screwing them up for the purpose of entertainment.

* * *

_Dreams_

'…' Thoughts

"…" Speaking

_Life Is Beautiful_

VvV

Chapter One

V

_It was cold. _

_The kind of cold that had old men staying inside, that had children blowing on their windows in their rooms to draw faces, and that had the city freeze to a grinding halt. _

_Snow fell, a quiet whisper that seemed to have the ability to cancel out the noise of whatever people were stupid enough or desperate enough to drive around on the plowed roads, their tires crunching over the compacted snow. _

_She sat on a swing in Gotham park, gloved fingers wrapped around the frozen chains as they squeaked softly, her legs pushing her back and forth slowly as snow melted on her dark clothes. Green eyes gazed over the white wonderland in front of her, the silence almost deafening compared to the usual nights of yelling, honking horns, and police sirens. Breathing out a slow breath of air, she watched her breath puff to life before fading and her heart twisted in her chest. _

_Life was gone that easily. _

"_You'd have hated the quiet city as much as I do. Nothing to do here, no fun to be had." Her voice spoke to no one, a fading memory that she clung desperately to, the only thing that gave her a reason to keep on going._

"_I'm sure, you'd have given him a good run on a night like this. Break into a jewelry store for the hell of it, steal the hope diamond, kick the shit out of some goons." The sound of a man's voice behind her had her green eyes widening as her fingers tightened briefly around the chains, the swing coming to a stop. God, even though they weren't blood related, he still managed the growl that made her heart beat a bit faster in her chest. "Cat got your tongue?" The crunching of the snow under heavy black boots was noticeable now as he came to a stop, just out of reach of her claws and Catwoman stood slowly, turning on her heels to look at the man behind her. Her breath came out of her in a whoosh, as if she'd been punched and she took a step back, fingers going down to her waist where she had lazily wrapped her whip._

"_Y-you…" Sinking down into a defensive stance her eyes stared, almost frightened of the man who stared back at her. _

_He watched her silently, white lenses covering his eyes to hide their color, mouth set in a straight line, expression unreadable as he watched the woman he had known for a good portion of his life now, dark cape covering his shoulders, blocking his hands from sight._

_She felt tears sting her eyes as her insides twisted and strained against the control she so desperately wanted to keep on her emotions. _

"_What do you think?" The voice, his goddamn voice was too close, the suit was the same, the height was altered by the boots, he wasn't quite as tall but there was only a few people who'd be able to tell, there were only a few people who were that close to him. _

"_I…" Her voice cracked so she tried again. "This is why you wanted to meet me?"_

_Batman nodded his head only slightly in confirmation to her question and she felt sick inside. Taking a step forward, then another, his black gloved hand reached out, pushing the swing out of his path as he moved closer to her. The chain clinked against the spikes in his metal bracer and she struggled not to back up from him. _

"_I had to see your face, I had to see your reaction to know if it was good enough." In his voice there was no apology, nothing to soften this cruel moment._

"_And did it pass? Was my reaction good enough for you?" The words came out bitter, her leather whip squeaking a bit against her gloves as her fingers tightened around it, knuckles white inside of the protective material. _

"_It passed." Stopping in front of her, he gazed down at her, the corners of his mouth pulling into a frown as her eyes welled with tears that she probably didn't even notice, but he did. _

_His hand raised up, catching a tear as it fell, it rolling down the finger of his glove._

"_Selina…I…" Voice softening, he moved his hand to touch her cheek, in a comforting gesture._

"_Don't say my name in his voice!" The sound of her voice was vicious, a desperate scream and she struck out in a backhand so hard that he stumbled to the side, sliding a bit in the snow as the bitter metallic taste of blood began to fill his mouth. Whirling on her he clenched his fists and shouted._

"_He's gone, Selina, he's gone and you're going to have to face he's never coming back!" The snarl of Batman echoed in her ears as she turned and ran from him._

Selina sat up in her bed with a short violent scream, fingers twisted in her blankets as her tank top clung to her skin, slick with sweat. Her breaths came in and out in ragged succession and tears blinded her momentarily as she struggled to capture her surroundings and recognize them. There was a soft cry of a cat, as it pawed at the closed glass of her bedroom window and she turned her attention to its yellow eyes.

"Did I forget to let you in?" Her throat burned from her tears, from her scream and she slid out of bed, moving to the window to push it open. A cold rush of air blew into the room, chilling the sweat on her body and she shivered as the cold fur of Isis bumped against her leg as the black cat jumped down to the floor and twined between her bare legs in greeting. Clicking the window shut Selina pressed the palms of her hands to her wet eyes and took a deep breath to calm the pounding of her heart.

"Just a dream." Was the whisper from her lips as she turned to look at the clock on the nightstand, the only source of light in her room. It read in bright green numbering that it was just after 2am; she had overslept. "Figures." Moving to the bathroom she flicked on her water and splashed it on her face then gave herself a once over in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy, black hair sticking up in spikes from her no doubt rough day of sleep and her eyelashes stuck together from the tears. First day back to work and she was staring it out oh so well.

Brushing her teeth she studied her reflection, that of a woman who looked on the wrong side of broken, the kind that an enemy could see if they gazed into her green eyes long enough and she spat out the water she had used to rinse out her mouth on the mirror.

"Hungry?" Calling into her room, Isis meowed in response to the question and Selina strode from her bathroom out into her living room of her small and modest apartment. Scooping up the remote off of the coffee table she turned on the television, not breaking her stride as she moved to the kitchen, dropping the remote on the counter. Isis jumped up as the weather channel warned of an incoming snowstorm that was sure to slow things down a bit in the City of Gotham and Selina opened a can of cat food, putting it into the small purple bowl on the counter before grabbing herself a bottle of water.

Taking a long drink she listened a while to the forecast then waved her hand.

"Going to be a white Christmas this year it seems, Isis." Giving the cat a gentle stroke Selina moved back to her bedroom and opened her top drawer, pulling out her suit. She had successfully pushed the dream from her mind, and any thought of _him_ that lingered was removed as she concentrated on putting on her clothes for nighttime affairs. There was a special exhibit in town, one that called to her and she wasn't about to let Gotham's visitor, a nice sized blue diamond worth a few million dollars, slip through her claws.

"It's time to go to work Ms. Kitty." Selina called as she tugged on her second glove then slipped down her blue colored goggles over her eyes.

…

Patrol seemed to last for an eternity, and was full of nothing but the chill of the wind on top of Gotham's rooftops. It seemed the general population of scum had decided to take a break in the week before Christmas.

'Maybe they're afraid of the cold.' He thought with a smirk, his white lens covered eyes gazing down at the streets below where a car would pass about every five minutes or so. With a swift gust of wind, he nearly shivered in his suit then scowled. 'Wish I was afraid of the cold, maybe that'd give me an excuse to stay out of it.' As he turned from the ledge and started off into a sprint he thought about using that excuse on his mentor then nearly snorted out a laugh at the thought of the cold look he'd receive in return. The man always did have a hard time having a sense of humor.

Leaping from one rooftop to the next he twisted his body in a front flip, landing hard on the next roof over and allowed his momentum to carry him forward in a graceful roll, putting him on his feet without so much as a break in stride as he ran towards the next rooftop.

More thoughts of his mentor started to creep up on him, and he pushed them down as the cold from the air seemed to sink into his bones, which was what he told himself was the cause. It had been two weeks since it happened, though the weeks that had followed had made it seem like an eternity he struggled with having to face the reality of it.

"Nightwing." A voice said in his ear, a British accent to it and he slowed to a jog then stopped.

"What's up Ace?" Being glad for not being winded he didn't want to imagine what the frigid air of Gotham would do to his lungs as he answered the man on the other end of his earpiece.

"It seems that there has been a break in at the Gotham Museum, a rather rare and rather expensive diamond has gone missing. Details are, the four officers on duty had no idea what hit them, and the case was cut open with glass cutters perhaps, as was the glass to the skylight. "

"You'd think," Grayson started as he began to run once again, changing directions this time. "after the tenth time or so of having someone break in through the skylight, they'd just have it taken out. But no, I think they're trying to pull off some sort of insurance fraud." He joked as he took the buildings in graceful leaps and bounds.

"Indeed." Answered the voice of Alfred then the sound click off the communication being terminated.

"No one appreciates a good joke anymore." He said to himself as he slowed to a more stealthy walk and squinted his eyes towards the roof of Gotham Museum. There air was distorted a bit where the hole had been cut in the glass where the waves of hot air coming from inside of the Museum met with the cold air of the outdoors and he found himself being tripped up by the sight.

It wasn't so much the distortion that had his heart pounding in his chest, feet feeling a bit clumsy so much as the image that was presented behind the distortion. A shapely woman in all black, her eyes covered by silver lined goggles with blue tinted shields and an object in her right hand that reflected the light of the moon like a small blue star.

He hadn't expected her, why hadn't he expected her? She was there, knowing that Batman wouldn't be and that wasn't her M.O.

"Shit." Inside of his gloves he felt his palms go damp as he stopped on the ledge to just watch her. He hadn't seen her since the…

'Funeral.' His mind told him though his body balked at the thought of it, a mental image forming of Selina Kyle, in a black dress sitting at the back of the church, staring up at the casket with her eyes haunted, but dry.

She never cried.

They had had a falling out, he remembered, and only remembered because Bruce had been edgy, and Batman had been much more violent. There was a girl Bruce had been dating, showing off around town by the name of Fairchild, and the night they had decided to discuss it things that were painful to both were slung around; they never pulled their punches when they fought for real. Bruce didn't give him details, he never gave him details when it came to Selina.

The next time they met, Nightwing had been there, Bruce had been cold, and Selina had been worse, walking a line so fine and dangerous he was sure Batman was really going to haul her to Blackgate. She had pushed him hard, she had always pushed him, but that night it was like he was seeing her in a new light. That night she was their enemy.

He had remembered thinking of how hurt she must have been, how much Bruce must have hurt her, Dick himself being no stranger to just how harsh Bruce could be. The thought of Bruce hurting her had pissed him off, though it could have just stemmed from his own fractured relationship with the man.

Pushing those thoughts away quickly he blinked then focused on the woman on the rooftop as she shifted her posture her gaze moving out towards the city so he could clearly see her profile.

It came again, the image of her sitting at the back of that church and he clenched his jaw, the muscles flexing in his cheek.

Alfred had offered her, had insisted she come to the front, Grayson himself had tried to talk to her as well, but she simply shook her head, said she wanted to be where there was an exit, she had things to do later that night, and for two solid weeks, Catwoman wasn't heard from or seen.

But now there she was, plain as the night could make her, inspecting her work and now it was on his shoulders to stop her, and there was no mistaking it; he was going to stop her.

Taking a deep breath, Nightwing stood straight, strengthened his resolved and moved to do his job.

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A/N: Thoughts? Comments? Let me know what you guys think so far.

-Nuclotei


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